Leaving Tax

I have a MAcc, CPA, two years experience in international tax at major market B4 firm, and a complete inability to be excited by or find interest in anything tax-related.

To anyone who’s left tax behind entirely, what field did you end up in, how have you enjoyed the shift, what should I look for in a prospective employer, etc.?

Any input is very much appreciated.

Voyager

I saw people go into recruiting, law firms practicing other law (for lawyers), senior financial analyst positions, regular accounting/bookeeping at smaller firms, some switched into other groups like advisory, etc. Surprisingly pretty diverse, consider tax is pretty niche.

Biff Tannen

I left Tax for a PE accounting role. It has led to good things. Be aggressive and do not be discouraged. You will be told by EVERY idiot recruiter you speak to that your Tax background is going to hurt you. Don’t listen to them. It will take longer to find a new job but will not be impossible. Use multiple recruiters, and consider applying for PE shop accounting gigs. Emphasize your familiarity with business and accounting. Maybe express a desire to see more business? Tro to come off as excited and hungry for a broader perspective.

Commando

I know a lot more tax people who became successful in PE or VC than auditors. Tax teaches a better problem solving mindset.

Biff Tannen

Tax candidates can definitely be successful; it’s more a matter of getting recruiters/hiring managers to give them a chance.

Adam Hill

I can’t tell if you are serious with this comment or not. My experience with tax people was that theywere great at problem solving, when the problem was not listening to do exactly what the client and/or auditor told them to do.

CPAdragon

It may not be relevant as I live in Asia, but I successfully switched from Tax at a mid-size firm to Advisory (Consulting) at a Big 4. As someone mentioned, it may take longer but you will make it.
You should also have a clear idea of what you would like to do next. Us giving you examples of what we have done, does not mean that you can follow the same path. You have to find something that you will enjoy doing for a very long time.

Biff Tannen

A friend of mine went from Tax to Advisory and has moved up the chain quickly. All in all it was a great move. It did require a lot of political capital within the firm.

Boarder846

I am a CPA with a MSA – tax emphasis and left PwC as a senior where I was also in international tax. I knew I didn’t want to make a career in international tax and wasn’t feeling like I wanted to give tax another shot in general. I considered transferring into PwC advisory but didn’t want to live that travel based lifestyle.

In 2014 I took a job with a large law firm as a financial analyst. After two years I was promoted to the firm’s finance manager. My advice is don’t get too hung up on titles if you’re switching to a different field (like tax to finance). At first I was really concerned about losing my “senior” title but I wasn’t qualified to be considered for a “senior financial analyst” position. Your average company is not going to bring in a tax person with no finance experience to a senior position. For what it’s worth, once my boss and I became closer he told me they didn’t even want to interview me at first because of my tax background. My headhunter pushed for me though and I won them over in the interview.

I’m happy I made my change. Just remember you can always make a change again if needed.

Biff Tannen

Seems like it worked out well for you. Sacrificing the title in this case was smart.

James

Thanks for your sharing. Would you mind to share a little bit more about your background and time you took for the job searching? I am having a hard time to look for a financial analyst position. I am the second year tax staff and going to promote in fall. I know that the title probably does not really matter to the financial analyst position. That’s why I want to start looking for those positions before I get promote.

Boarder846

I started my search in January/February 2014 and was hired in April 2014 working with a local head hunter who was referred to me. If you’re not working with one I would suggest asking around and seeing if you can locate a referral. As I came to find out, finance is hard to break into. Most companies are looking for either experienced candidates or MBAs. As an example, when we hired a new analyst for my vacated position he came from Goldman Sachs where he was also an analyst. He is also in school pursuing his MBA. None of that is a requirement for a finance position but you should be aware of who your competition is.

I will add two more pieces of advice. First, don’t feel compelled to only seek out positions at very large or publicly traded companies. While I’m at a healthy sized law firm we are by no means big business big. The perk to this is it allows me to see and touch almost every aspect of our operations.

Second, if you snag an interview for finance you absolutely have to make it sound like you did things other than prepare tax returns. I was fortunate in my tax role in that I did a 50/50 split between tax compliance (mainly 5471s/8858s, and 1120-Fs) and outbound consulting. When I interviewed I didn’t go into any detail about the tax compliance work. I sold myself on being able to build excel models illustrating the financial and tax effects of different outbound structures and their implications to the client. Two of the people I interviewed with were the CFO and controller, both former public accounting audit guys. I knew they didn’t care about my compliance background so I sold what experience I had that could be beneficial to them.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions.

James

I really appreciate that. It definitely helps. Just a follow up question – so I notice that you got both your CPA and MSA. I am still working on my CPA now. Should I stay in the firm and get my CPA done first? Not sure if they care about those three letters.

Boarder846

I would suggest completing your CPA before you leave. I say that for two reasons. One, everyone values a CPA no matter what field you go into. It helps you stand out from the crowd and no one gets excited about hearing you’re “CPA eligible”. If you’re trying to go from tax to finance it can only help you.

Two, administratively, it will be much easier to get licensed while you’re at a Big 4 firm. The firms are used to working with people getting their license and at PwC it was basically a rubber stamp procedure getting the paperwork to become licensed. There was a guy at my law firm who was trying to submit his paperwork to become licensed and it was an administrative headache for him and the CFO. In Texas at least, coming up with the experience documentation will be a hassle and some CPA will have to claim and sign off on that you met the experience requirement. The firms rubber stamp this but asking someone you just met to do all this for you might be a tall ask depending on the CPA. Big industry jobs might have departments who have experience with the paperwork needed to get licensed but I would certainty try to get it done now.

James

Thank you so much. Hopefully I can get my CPA done by the end of this year.

Big4Veteran

You have a complete inability to be excited by or find interest in anything tax-related?

How odd.

Commando

Similar background. I made it all the way to partner, but found a complete inability to be excited by or find interest in anything tax related.
Quit and went to seminary. Very different, weird people. No great career prospects unless you like to steal from sheep.
Podiatry is a better field. Pays better and you get to play with lady feet.